Associate Professor Cynthia Mitchell, of the Institute for Sustainable Futures at the University of Technology, Sydney (UTS), said the world’s deposits of phosphorus are due to run out in about 50 years. She believes recycling the 132 gallons (500 liters) of urine each person produces a year is the solution.
***
But Mitchell blames a ‘poo taboo’ for the failure of governments to move on the issue of recycling urine.
I think this might have been what Metallica’s James Hetfield might have been getting at post-Live Earth:
“I really avoided the press around the Live Earth day. I didn’t quite agree with what was going on there…I really believe that humans will survive. I have a lot of faith in mankind that we will overcome and adapt – whatever it is; whether it’s man-made or God-made, or Earth/Mother Nature – we have a lot of smart people on this planet that will make something good out of bad.”
Or at least make some good out of ‘bad’ urine…if the poo taboo can be overcome. Godspeed, brave scientist!
